Waldemar M. Haffkine, C.I.E. (1860-1930), born in Odessa, Russia, of Jewish parents, graduated from its University in 1884 with a Doctor of Science degree. At the Institut Pasteur, Paris, he created the first successful vaccine against cholera (1892) and at the Grant Medical College in Bombay, vaccine against bubonic plague (1896). Historically, Haffkine's work is significant because he introduced these successful vaccines in India and carried out mass inoculations against both diseases, reducing the death rate by over 75 percent. He was the bearer of the newly emerging science of medical bacteriology. He brought about a new era in public health which involved the voluntary cooperation of individuals, religious communities, and nations. His work gave birth to the concept of global epidemiology to prevent the spread of such dreaded diseases as cholera and plagues. Scientific ideals of the West were merged with deeply religious feelings of the East. From 1896 to 1904 he was Director-in-Chief of the Plague Research Laboratory in Bombay, established on his initiative and recommendation. He trained British officers of the Indian Medical Service and Indians in complicated laboratory techniques. Queen Victoria awarded him the C.I.E. (Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire) in 1897. Ten years after he left India at compulsory retirement age 55, the Laboratory was re-named the Haffkine Institute. On the 104th anniversary of his birth, March, 1964, the Indian Government issued a commemorative postage stamp with his portrait. From August 1973 to August 1974, the Haffkine Institute is celebrating its Platinum Jubilee - 75th year - and launching a new scientific bulletin.